


Light Hugo's Candle

by IFoundYouJustineTime



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Varian and the Seven Kingdoms, Vat7k
Genre: Coma, Depression, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Drugs, Hospitalization, Light My Candle Rip-off, M/M, Rent Rip-off, Strippers & Strip Clubs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:48:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26078992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IFoundYouJustineTime/pseuds/IFoundYouJustineTime
Summary: Varian is alone in his friends' apartment when he receives a visitor looking for a light.
Relationships: Hugo/Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), varigo
Comments: 7
Kudos: 33





	Light Hugo's Candle

**Author's Note:**

> ((Okay, please make sure you're okay with the warnings. This is shamelessly just a Varigo version of the song "Light My Candle" from Rent and because of the nature of the song and its context this fic contains references to drug use, strip clubs, and other mature matters. And while the characters are playful and flirty I want to make it clear that this in no way is meant to idealize or glorify drugs. Both in Rent and in this piece drug use is one of the major things the characters fight to overcome. To be clear I don't have any direct knowledge or experience, I am just referencing one of my favorite musicals. Please grant me a little grace. I should also make clear that in the AU I set up here neither Varian nor Hugo are HIV+ because it's not necessary for the song to work and because I'd rather not touch on that in fanfiction if I don't have to. ))

The grungy New York loft was dark, save for the weak shadows cast by the various bits of light the “city that never sleeps” had to offer. There was even a bit of moonlight reaching in to illuminate the worn-out floorboards and the exposed brick walls.

It wasn’t Varian’s apartment, but rather the apartment shared by his friends once they’d graduated from his university. Varian had only moved in about a month ago. Rapunzel had insisted after… everything. 

His chemistry textbook laid abandoned on the kitchen table. It was his favorite subject, but he wasn’t about to strain his eyes through the dim light to read it, and anyway, he wasn’t even sure if he was going to go back next semester. He’d already missed the fall… What did it matter if he took the whole year off? How could he even concentrate on his studies when his dad…

So instead, Varian lay on the couch mindlessly doodling. It didn’t really even matter what was being put on the paper. He just needed something to do that didn’t require his brain to function. 

It had been a few hours since the building’s power had been shut off, prompting Eugene, Rapunzel, and Lance to go find someplace brighter and warmer to spend their Christmas Eve. They had begged Varian to join them, but he refused all attempts. He just wasn’t ready to go out yet. And he especially didn’t feel like celebrating something like the holidays when his only real family member was dead to the world with only tubes and wires tethering him to existence.

Varian was pulled from these spiraling thoughts by a knock on the apartment door. He wiped his eyes and looked up. That was weird. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Were Eugene, Raps, and Lance back? Had they just all forgotten their keys?

He stood and walked to the door as it was rapped on again. “Okay, okay,” he said. “I’m coming. I can’t believe not a single one of you remembered your-” he opened the door to see a blond stranger standing on the other side. “-keys.”

The stranger was male and looked to be about Varian’s age, so maybe early twenties. He was much taller, though. His hair was shaved along the sides, and the rest was pulled back in a messy ponytail. He had piercings everywhere, some smudged eyeliner, and was that… body glitter? Varian stared dumbfounded as the stranger held up a candle.

“Got a light?” asked the stranger, a little smirk forming on his face. And wait… actually, as Varian saw that smirk he could have sworn this person was not actually a stranger. He had a strong feeling that he’d seen him somewhere before… But where?

“I… uh, um, do I know you?” asked Varian as the curious smirking man twirled into the room without invitation. Varian couldn’t help but notice that, while his movements were confident, his hands were shaking pretty badly. “Oh, you’re shivering.”

The man shrugged. “Well, you know, it is freezing out, and I haven’t exactly been able to afford things like the heating bill. I’m your downstairs neighbor, by the way. I’ve seen you out on the fire escape a few times.” 

Varian didn’t know how he felt about being caught out on the fire escape. Not that he’d been doing anything weird or illegal out there, but he hadn’t exactly been in the best headspace this past month, and it felt odd that someone he didn’t know might have been privy to any of that. He tried to think if he remembered seeing this person somewhere in the building, but he didn’t think that’s where the man’s face resided in his memory.

“Oh,” was all Varian was able to verbalize. 

“Yes, and you probably noticed our little power outage,” said the other man. He stepped closer to Varian. “Was hoping maybe you could help a guy out and give me a little light in these dark times.”

Varian looked down at the candle in his ‘neighbor’s' hands and nodded. He went over to the little kitchenette and pulled open the junk drawer where he found a little jacket of matches. He brought them back over and struck one so he could light the candle. The man held it up so that the flickering light reflected in his emerald green eyes. Varian now noticed heavy bags under them. His eyes moved upward. Was that sweat on his brow? Varian filed this detail away but chose to ignore it for now as he continued on to the man’s pale blond hair, made even paler by the soft rays of moonlight glinting over it.

“What?” asked the man.

Varian realized he was staring and shook his head to stop himself. “Nothing… it’s uh, nothing.”

The man was smirking again, and Varian felt a little twist in his stomach in addition to the sensation of familiarity. But then the man’s eyes rolled, and he stumbled a bit. Varian put his hands on the man’s shoulders to steady him as he held his forehead. 

“You okay?” asked Varian alarmed.

“What? Oh yeah,” the man steadied himself, resting a hand over one of Varian’s. “Like I said, money’s been on the tight side, so I haven’t eaten much today. Just got a little light-headed.” He inched closer like he was hoping for Varian to fully embrace him, but feeling that the man was able to stand, Varian, pulled back and awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets. 

The man didn’t seem offended by this. He just continued to smile and moved further into the apartment, looking around. Varian watched him, trying to figure out where he’d seen that smirk before. 

The man looked back, catching Varian staring again.

“What?” the man asked, his voice full of mirth.

“Nothing,” repeated Varian. “Just… You look familiar.”

The man looked back at him through his eyelashes. “Maybe you dreamed about me…” he said, his voice low and suggestive.

Varian felt his face burn. “No, no… No! I mean, like, you know, out somewhere.”

The man laughed and twirled away only to then turn back with a pout. He held up the now darkened candle. “Shit, sorry, it went out already. Can you get it for me again?”

“Um, yeah, okay, of course,” said Varian, still feeling flustered from before. The man walked back in front of him and held up the candle to be lit. 

Varian focused hard on only looking at the candle and not the green eyes inches from his own face. When the candle was flickering again, they stood there in silence as Varian waited for the other to do something.

“Uh… well,” said Varian, not sure what else to say.

“Yes?” said the man expectantly. It was enough to trick Varian into looking up again and locking eyes. They were looking back at him intensely, and he thought he felt his heart skip a beat.

“Ow!” the man’s eyes were torn away as he looked down at his hands. Varian saw a bit of white cooling on one of the man’s long thin fingers.

“Oh!” said Varian. “The wax… It’s,”

“Dripping, yeah,” said the man who had quickly recovered and was once again looking straight at Varian. “I actually don’t mind it.” His voice was low and soft again. “I like it between my-”

“Fingers!” supplied Varian, not knowing or needing to know if that was what the man intended to say. He didn’t think he could handle anything else right now. “Um, that’s cool. Well,” Varian gently nudged the man toward the door. “Um… Goodnight, then!”

“Heh, goodnight, Short Stuff,” said the man as he swaggered to the door. Varian turned away and was about to heave a sigh of relief when he heard a knock again. He looked back to see the man leaning on the threshold, the candle once again dark.

“It blew out again?” asked Varian, allowing himself to point out the obvious.

“No…” said the man. “Well,” he looked down at the candle. “Yes, but I also just realized that my stash is missing. I think I dropped it in here.” Like before, he didn’t wait for an invitation but instead started walking around searching for his missing item. Varian once more found himself only capable of watching, following the lines of the man’s long, lithe body as he moved about the space. He seemed so damn familiar. 

“I know I’ve seen you before,” said Varian, finally speaking up. “Not for a while… I… It’s been maybe a year since I actually socialized… But back when I used to go out…”

The man seemed distracted. “It’s gotta be here somewhere,” he said. “I need it, too. I was gonna take some soon as I got back downstairs… And I know I had it when I walked in… Maybe it’s under something.”

Varian watched, speechless, as the man nearly bent in half to look under a table, showing off long and surprisingly muscular legs that led up to…

“Like what you see?” asked the man.

Varian was mortified as he realized he’d been practically leering at this stranger in his apartment. His face burned as he met the man’s eyes. The man, for his part, didn’t seem bothered by it at all. If anything, he looked delighted, and Varian swore he could see the man’s eyes darting over him as well.

“Wha- um… no!” Varian stuttered. “I mean, yes, you look… You look good…look great… But I didn’t mean to… You just look so familiar.” 

The man rolled his eyes as he turned to continue his search. “Did you ever go to the Iron Kingdom Club?” he asked. Varian thought back as the name rang a bell. It seemed like another lifetime when Lance would take him and his friends out clubbing and even snuck them into the occasional strip club. “That’s where I work,” said the man. “I’m a dancer.” 

It clicked. “Yes!” he exclaimed as a vivid memory of the man gyrating on a stage came flooding back into his mind. “Ha!” He chuckled for the first time in months. “They used to tie you up. I remember now.”

“It’s a living,” said the man as he continued to look for his stash. Varian knelt down on the floor to help, crawling over to where the other man was. Varian smiled when they met eyes again. 

“I guess I just didn’t recognize you without the handcuffs on,” Varian said with another laugh.

“Oh haha,” said the man. “More like you didn’t recognize me with this many clothes on.” 

Varian looked away as his cheeks burned again, but he looked back as the man continued to search. “Hey, why don’t you just forget that stuff… It’s only going to mess you up.”

The man shot him a look, his signature smirk faltering. “Yeah, well, too late for that. But it’s fine. I’m just one of those people who are born to be bad.”

Varian sat back on his heels.” Yeah, well, I’ve been there… Was just there, actually... Up until a month ago…” Varian looked at the man’s hands and saw that they were still shaking like before. “I used to shiver like that.”

The man let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s nothing. I just don’t have heat. I told you already.”

“Yeah, well,” said Varian, frowning. “I also used to sweat.” 

The man shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve got a cold.”

“Yeah, uh, okay… You say that, but I know what it’s like. I just got out of rehab,” said Varian.

The man stopped his search and sat up to look at Varian seriously. “It’s not that bad…” he said. “I just… You know.. Life can suck sometimes, and I just... Like to feel good now and then.”

“Uh huh, yeah,” said Varian, unconvinced. His eyes slid down to the floor, where he suddenly noticed the bag of powder. He tried to pick it up without the man seeing, but to no avail.

“What’s that?” asked the man, scooting closer to see. Varian tucked it in his pocket, out of sight. 

“Nothing. Just a random candy bar wrapper from earlier,” lied Varian.

The man seemed to consider him, then suddenly he was smirking again. “You know, maybe it’ll be easier for me to find what I’m looking for if you light my candle again.” He held it up, but Varian didn’t reach for the matches. 

“Um… Actually, I already used the last one,” he lied again.

“Oh, really?” said the man. He shrugged and tucked the candle away in a pocket. He leaned into Varian and spoke softly in his ear. “At least we still have the moonlight.”

Varian jerked back. “You know, it might not even be moonlight. It’s Christmas tomorrow, I’m sure it’s everyone’s Christmas lights.”

“Puh,” said the man with disgust. He took Varian’s hand, and even though his fingers were freezing cold, Varian still felt a warmth in his chest from the touch. “Christmas. Bah humbug, am I right?”

“Heh,” Varian laughed. “Yeah, bah humbug.” He kept his eyes down at their joined hands, rubbing his thumb over the man’s fingers. “Your hands are so cold…”

The man shrugged. “Yours are a bit cold too… Guess we both are in need of someone to warm us up… Maybe we should dance to get warm.” 

Varian looked up in surprise. “What?” He found the man smirking back.

“Just kidding,” said the man. “You’re very cute, you know that, Short Stuff?”

“Um… my name is Varian,” he supplied, not sure he was willing to go with ‘Short Stuff’ forever.

“Mm, Varian,” said the man, trying it out. Varian felt a strange flip in his stomach as the man said his name. The man leaned forward so that their noses were almost touching. “You can call me Hugo.”

“Hugo,” said Varian softly. He could feel Hugo’s breath on his lips, sending a shiver down his spine. Then Hugo pulled back and held up the stash between his long fingertips. 

“Well, Short Stuff,” said Hugo “It’s been fun, but I gotta run.” 

Hugo jumped to his feet and sauntered out of the apartment, closing the door behind him and leaving Varian feeling very, very confused.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. If you're a fan of Rent I hope this brought a little fun and joy to your day. (and if you're not, maybe I sparked your interest...))
> 
> This week's chapter of VTT is coming. I fell a little bit behind. It should be posted no later than Tuesday the 25th! Thanks for your patience!


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